Kingdom Hearts: Dandelion's Vow
by AngelMaster16
Summary: The plan was for the Dandelion to spread across the world, to re-inhabit them with light after the Keyblade War's conclusion. However, after a betrayal from one of their own, the other union leaders, the 'player' and Elrena are scattered as the data world line collapses with most Dandelions corrupted by the virus. Somehow, they'll fix the mistakes of the past
1. What it Means to Have a Heart Pt 1

**AN: Another new story by me. This time, it's Kingdom Hearts, which I attempted before with my crossover with Total Drama, but I've lost interest in that story. Anyways, I've wanted to do a story centered around the Dandelions for a while, so here goes.**

Chapter One: What it Means to Have a Heart Part One

_**A Scarf**_

All Ephemer knew anymore was a white void. He didn't know how long he had been there. He had been there since the day the killer of Strelitzia decided to destroy their world line in an attempt to forgo fate. That was all Ephemer remembered before waking up here. A clash of keyblades, an opened box, and a torn book.

At first he tried to count the days. Days turned into months and eventually years and decades and centuries. Ephemer had a rough idea of how long it had been, but he stopped counting the days long ago.

But he knew his friends were still out there. They could still feel the chill of the wind, see the growth of flowers, see the birds migrate and still affect the future. For at least they weren't stuck here in nothing like him.

Ephemer spent most of his days walking down the endless halls of white. Sometimes he found static images of the outside world, faintly seeing stars flicker out and seeing a young boy with brown spikey hair with large shoes fight darkness. At least the worlds were safe with the keyblade.

However, Ephemer approached something unusual in his over a millennium of being trapped in the endless void. A door. A large door that could be opened twice, once on each side. He guessed it was to big to all swing one direction. However, Ephemer was drawn to the keyhole on the door. It was not a regular keyhole. Instead, it had five indents in it. A star, a flower, a feather, an open book and a wavy shape. Ephemer tugged at his scarf as he pondered what these were for when suddenly the wavy shape glowed as his scarf did and Ephemer put his scarf into the indent. Guess Ephemer had to do as he usually did and wait.

_**A Book**_

Brain sighed as he continued to read the Book of Prophecies in what he assumed to be heaven. Well, he couldn't really call it that as he was killed by a black hooded man with a strange keyblade he believed to have seen before when he had finally settled down in Scala Ad Caelum. At least in death, he was in his teenager form instead of adult form. He was much more comfortable relaxing in this form any day of the week. However, Brain was forced to watch the events of the world unfold. He hated this. Unable to do anything. Unable to change fate.

But as he watched one of his apprentices teach a young Eraqus and Xehanort, Brain felt a tug in his heart and felt himself back in his Station of Awakening. He had never been here in his afterlife, so he wondered why now.

Brain found himself looking at a small door with an indent for a book the size of the Book of Prophecies. Brain looked at it quizzically as a familiar face popped up. It was his Chirithy, with his old hat and own small book as well.

"You always did say you were close. So what's this about?" Brain asked and his Chirithy pouted.

"You are always like this. Never even saying hello. However, this is a way for you to escape. By putting the Book of Prophecies into that door, you will be able to cast aside your heart from your dead body and send it into a new body, one able to affect fate like you'd always wanted." Chirithy told him and Brain stared at the door. Tell about a deal made from heaven.

"Why not? Anything beats death." Brain shrugs slightly, still a bit unsure, but put the book into the door indent and the door flickers with light and disappears and Brain feels his heart aches as he finds himself above his own body. His heart had been free. But now where to go?

_**A Flower**_

Marluxia had been a Nobody longer than anyone in Organization XIII. He had always kept himself in the shadows and studied himself to try to find a way to bring his friends back. He still called himself a Nobody, even with the burgeoning heart his 'Superior' claimed he didn't have. He hated calling that man Superior. The only people he ever saw as superiors were the Foretellers, especially Master Ava. She was the one to offer him and Strelitzia a place when they didn't belong anywhere. Master Invi thought they stood out too much. Master Aced saw them as weaklings. Master Ira had wanted to recruit Lauriam/Marluxia for his leadership skills, but he refused when he wouldn't accept his sister. Master Gula had once wanted both of them, but the next day he only gave them somber glances and told them to seek out Master Ava, who accepted both of them with open arms.

Marluxia respected very few people. Xemnas, Number I, his so called Superior was not one of them. Master Ava, Strelitzia, Ephemer, Elrena, or better known as Larxene now, and now hell even Axe and Luxord had some slight respect from him. But he would never respect a man who wished to bring calamity to all worlds.

"Hey Marluxia. You gonna stare at Castle Oblivion all day or are we all gonna head inside." Axel, the red headed flaming assassin of the Organization, asked as behind him stood the quiet Lexaeus, the arrogant Vexen, the socially awkward scientist Zexion, the snappy Larxene, and the enigmatic Luxord. The Superior thought he was sneaky in sending away those he had suspicions towards, but Marluxia immediately knew why he sent who he did. Vexen was always questioning the leader and always pestering for more research equipment. Zexion and Lexaeus very rarely talked to anyone when off duty and avoided Xemnas, Xigbar and Xaldin, aka the Numbers I, II, and III. Larxene was always snapping at everyone for even looking at her. Luxord, well he just had an air of suspicion. Hell, Marluxia was surprised Demyx wasn't here for how no one knew of his past, but he knew he would just sneak off anyways.

"Hmm. Interesting. It seems the door has an indent on it that must be filled to let us enter." Zexion pointed out and Marluxia walked up to the door and his eyes widened. The shape. He knew that shape like the back of his hand.

"It seems like some sort of flower. Hey Marluxia, any ideas?" Axel asked and noticed Marluxia staring at the door with an empty expression.

"Marl?" Larxene asked, losing her angry undertone for a moment and giving Marluxia a tilt of the head.

"Give me a fucking good enough reason to open this door," Marluxia whispered to himself and glared up at the castle and screamed, "Master Ava! Give me a reason!"

Everyone stared at Marluxia for his outburst and Luxord gave Marluxia a questioning look as well as one of recognition.

"Kingdom Hearts hates me. First forced into this Organization, now taunting me with my dead sister's namesake." Marluxia muttered to himself as he pulled a flower out of his coat and placed it into the indent, letting the castle open. No one knew what to say after his outburst and decided to enter the castle. Marluxia however refused to enter the castle for the moment, opting instead to linger outside and go look for the lost Keyblade Wielder known as Sora.

_**A Star**_

Ventus didn't know how long he was asleep when he woke up in the Land of Departure. Ventus didn't know how long he was asleep when he was found by Xehanort. Now he didn't know how long he had been asleep when his slumbering heart had finally made its way back to his body. Now he was sitting on a throne in a room of white. He once again didn't know where he was. All he knew was that he had his keyblade, Lost Memory, in one hand and his wayfinder in the other.

Ventus knew he had to get out of here to find Aqua and Terra. The last he knew what happened to them was that they were in danger during the Keyblade War from Xehanort.

Ventus stretched as his body out after being asleep for so long. Why did this always happen to him? He heard of loving sleep, but his body took this to the extreme.

Suddenly, Ventus fell to his knees and clutched his head as in front of him he saw a strange, orange haired girl with a somber expression look at him in sympathy. Then she faded and now four others stood in front of him, a pink haired teen pulling petals off a flower, a black haired girl hugging closely the silver haired boy with a red scarf, and a black haired boy with a hat with a red feather who was reading a book. Suddenly Ventus's world dimmed and all he could see was a blurred boy wearing the scarf, an older man clutching the hat of his past, and a pink haired man whose eyes held no emotions and the girl was clouded by an X over her face and yellow eyes replacing her once vibrant brown ones.

Ventus finally picked himself up as the vision faded. He didn't know what that was, but he did know it was probably important.

Now Ventus noticed the size of the room he was in. It was a large throne room with nothing but a throne and a door. A door with some sort of indent. Ventus slowly walked up to the door and saw that the shape perfectly fit with his Wayfinder. Ventus hesitantly put his one connection back to Terra and Aqua into the door and suddenly a flash of white filled his eyes as the door to the room opened.

_**A Feather and A Promise**_

Ephemer recoiled in shock as slowly the indents in the door filled up from seemingly nowhere. First the book, then the flower and star. All that was left was the feather. A feather? The only person he ever saw with a feather was Brain and his hat. Ephemer recalled that Brain once mentioned giving his only friend a copy of his feather, though he never said what friend. It was brought up once and very somberly. Ephemer never brought it up again, but now the feather lingered in the back of his mind. Who did he give it to?

"_Ephem! Look at my keyblade!" An orange haired girl ran up to Ephemer, twirling happily as she summoned her keyblade. It was still Starlight, but had a slight alteration at the grip and guard. The guard was replaced by a flower stem that wrapped around itself to make a vine like shape and then connected into the keychain, now replacing the charm at the end with a red feather. The grip was now a bright orange color, reflecting the girl's hair._

"_It evolved." Ephemer was taken aback by the change in the girl's keyblade. He had never seen this before._

"_Yep! It'd be boring if all of our keyblades were the same, huh Ephem?" The girl asked excitedly and Ephemer nodded._

"_Yeah, that's right Litz." Ephemer answered with a chuckle._

Ephemer was brought out of his flashback with a gasp. Strelitzia. Litz She had the feather. It was her new keyblade's charm. She had shown it to him about a month before the world ended.

"But she's dead. Gone forever. How will a feather appear here?" Ephemer wondered and suddenly he felt a tug on his heart as suddenly the last indent in the door was filled by the feather and the door slightly opened and Ephemer took a deep breath as he stepped through, vowing to figure that out later.

Ephemer found himself in a corridor of pure white, surrounded by simple decorations. Vases, tables, and other things Ephemer forgot the names of.

"Am I still in that void?" Ephemer wondered as he started walking down the corridor when he heard footsteps approach. As Ephemer neared a corner to turn in the hallway, he suddenly saw a man with red hair whistling and came to a stop when he saw Ephemer. He summoned his keyblade, his own evolved form of Starlight, having evolved soon after Strelitzia's did. It has only changed in the grip and guard as well, keeping mostly the same look as any other Starlight. It had changed to a red and white guard with symbols of Lux adorned across it. The grip had changed to a black, white, red, deep purple, pink and orange color to represent his closest friends and himself.

"A keyblade?" The red haired man summoned a pair of chakrams from fire and held them toward Ephemer, "How'd you get here kiddo?"

"Where even is here?" Ephemer asked, holding his keyblade up in a guarding position.

"So you don't know, huh. First things first, name's Axel, got it memorized? Well this castle belongs to Organization XIII, so get out." Axel demanded in a harsh tone after tapping his head at his catchphrase and Ephemer took a deep breath.

"Where exactly am I supposed to go?! I'm gonna find my friends and find our home!" Ephemer yelled in a frustration unlike himself and summoned two pillars of light in the horizontal plane to strike Axel, but he sidestepped and launched his chakrams at Ephemer, who slashed at them to knock them away. Before they could be knocked away, Axel moved at nearly unseeable speeds to grab the Chakrams and continually attack with them on fire. Ephemer blocked the first one, then used Reflect to block the rest, causing a sparkle of energy when Axel backed off that shot towards Axel, reflecting his damage back onto himself.

"And here I thought you were dead kiddo." A new voice says and a black portal appears and out of it walks a man with a yellow eye and an eyepatch, with grey and black hair.

"You know him Xigbar?" Axel jumped back and looked at the new man suspiciously.

"We met, a long time ago. But, as if I'm just gonna blurt out secrets. Just know that he's a threat to us and needs to be eliminated. Orders from the boss man." Xigbar tapped his foot on the ground as a single strange gun appeared in his hand and shot three shots at Ephemer, striking his leg, arm and ear. His leg and arm would be fine, but his ear was basically destroyed by the bullet. Now Ephemer had worse hearing.

"Ephem!" A girl's voice rang throughout the hall and suddenly vines shot out of the ground, grabbing Axel and Xigbar and slammed them into the wall. Ephemer looked on and gasped as he saw who it was. Strelitzia was there with her evolved Starlight keyblade in hand, vines extending out from the keyblade.

"Litz!" Ephemer yelled in excitement and Xigbar was glaring at the two with extreme anger.

"Girly, you should still be in the Final World. How you're here, I don't know. But…" Xigbar's guns shot through the vines, letting drop a battered Axel and a nearly fine Xigbar. Ephemer assumed Litz did more damage to Axel due to his fire being a counter to her vines.

"Litz! Run!" Ephemer ran up to Strelitzia and grabbed her hand and the two started running down the corridors as they avoided Xigbar's shooting, but he didn't pursue when they went around a corner.

"Those two'll get to the entrance one day. I'll wait there. Axel, continue the job given." Xigbar kicked the downed assassin, who just groaned in pain and Xigbar shrugged before summoning a dark portal again, leaving Axel behind to suffer the pain of being slammed into walls. Being a Nobody may make him more durable, but that didn't mean getting his head hit into the wall multiple times didn't hurt.

Ephemer and Strelitzia stopped running after a couple of minutes and stood there, taking breaths and looking at each other.

"Litz!" Ephemer gave her a tight hug, making Strelitzia give him one back in happiness.

"How are you alive?" Ephemer asked and Strelitzia held up a feather.

"Brain gave me this a while ago. Then when I was just a heart, the feather allowed me to retain a type of physical form in the Final World, the World all hearts go to before going to Kingdom Hearts, or where they remain if someone refuses to let the heart go. You, Brain and Lauriam all refused to let me go to Kingdom Hearts. Hey, at least I could talk to my Chirithy." Strelitzia said happily and Ephemer sighed.

"I just wish I realized Skuld killed you. I would have done more to find your heart." Ephemer stated sadly and Strelitzia shook her head.

"It's fine Ephem. We're here now. Now let's find the others." Strelitzia smiled and Ephemer nodded in agreement as they started down the corridor.

"_I'll make sure we're all reunited. I swear it on my heart." _Ephemer silently vowed to himself as he wrapped his scarf a small bit tighter as Strelitzia put a feather in her hair.

**AN: Couple of things to mention. Yes, the player character will appear eventually, but I don't want to reveal who they are yet. Secondly, the doors. It'll be explained eventually, but the doors that appeared do connect to Kingdom Hearts. Yes, a door appeared before Strelitzia as well. Another thing to point out is the objects. They did return to their owners after being placed into them, except for one of them. Also, on the topic of the objects. Most were obvious, such as Ventus's Wayfinder, a Strelitzia Flower for Marluxia/Lauriam, Ephemer's Scarf. I debated on Brain's hat or the Book of Prophecies and decided on the book. Strelitzia's item was a bit iffy, but I couldn't come up with something better, and her being connected to other characters besides Lauriam and the player character just feels like it makes sense. Anyways, who else is excited for Re:Mind in less than a week? I just want more Luxord and Demyx and their backstories. Anyways, what do you guys want to see the most out of Re:Mind? Besides Luxord and Demyx, data fights will be a nice challenge to kick my ass into the ground a thousand times. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed.**


	2. Invisible Thorns

**AN: Another chapter already? Yeah well, I did a lot of writing this weekend and have a special treat. Each story I've been working on will be getting a chapter today. This, The Cracked Heart, as well as TDA: Back to Action. Anyways, enjoy this chapter. (Yes I know the chapter name is not part two of the first chapter, that's because part 2 is later in the story).**

Chapter Two: Invisible Thorns

Ventus felt awkward as he walked silently through the empty corridors, only Lost Memory in hand for defense in case Vanitas was still around and wanted to bombard him with Unversed.

"_**Idiot. Our hearts joined back together, back to normal."**_ Ventus heard Vanitas's voice and his eyes widened.

"Are you in my heart?" Ventus asked as he kept walking, now a bit more unsure of himself.

"_**Our heart. Do you never listen?"**_ Vanitas spat out and Ventus groaned.

"Great. I get to listen to a gremlin on my shoulder the rest of my life." Ventus seemed annoyed and Vanitas cackled.

"_**Not a gremlin. Also, how do you know Xehanort won't just find us again?" **_Vanitas pointed out and Ventus gulped. That was something to consider. Xehanort could still be trying to find him, wherever he was.

"Just stop talking so I don't get a headache." Ventus rubbed his head in annoyance as he finished his way down a corridor and stepped through a large door. On the other side, Ventus watched as a silver haired boy struck down a giant of a man with as giant of an axe. The boy's weapon looked like a keyblade, but without a keychain or charm. Ventus noticed the boy's outfit changed from some strange dark outfit, back into an outfit that was reminiscent of an islander's. The boy seemed familiar to Ventus, but he couldn't place it.

"Hey there." Ventus decided to greet and the boy rapidly turned to him, weapon in hand, before looking at him and lowering it.

"You don't smell of as much darkness as the cloaked crazies of this castle." The boy dismissed his weapon and Ventus shrugged.

"Don't know anyone else who is here. I think I just woke up from a ten year nap." Ventus leaned into his hands behind his neck, similar to the silver haired boy's friend.

"A ten year nap? Here I thought Sora slept too long." The boy chuckled slightly but held out a hand for Ventus to take.

"I'm Riku." Riku greeted and Ventus took the handshake.

"I'm Ventus, but call me Ven. Where even is here?" Ventus asked and Riku shrugged.

"It's called Castle Oblivion, but I don't know where it is. All I know, is it was my escape from the Realm of Darkness." Riku explained and Ventus raised an eyebrow.

"_**This kid's been to the Realm of Darkness?! No one comes out of that alive." **_Vanitas exclaimed to Ventus as Riku continued.

"My friend, King Mickey, also escaped with me." Riku finished and Ventus's eyes widened.

"You know King Mickey!? He's my friend. Where is he?" Ventus asked excitedly and Riku blinked a couple times before shrugging.

"I haven't seen him yet, but he's been talking to me through illusions." Riku explained and Ventus's shoulders sagged, but shot back up.

"Okay, then let's go find him." Ventus exclaimed before running ahead of Riku up ahead to the next floor, with Vanitas rolling his eyes in Ventus's heart.

Meanwhile, on the 13th floor of Castle Oblivion

Ephemer and Strelitzia panted as they made it to the top of a staircase and helped each other keep walking.

"Why's this castle so big?!" Ephemer yelled out in annoyance as they opened the door to the next room and found themselves interrupting a confrontation between Axel and a pink haired man holding a blonde haired girl in front of him in defense.

"Let her go!" Ephemer shouted and the pink haired man looked at them and then silently backed away, hand off of the blonde girl.

"It can't be." The man muttered to himself as Axel tried to throw a chakram at him, but the pink haired man summoned his scythe to deflect it.

"Are you okay?" Strelitzia asked the girl, who silently nodded as Ephemer summoned his keyblade to fight both Axel and the pink haired man.

"Well, I do urge the both of you to follow me. Assuming Sora there doesn't kill you for trying to harm Namine." The pink haired man grinned slightly, addressing Ephemer and Strelitzia instead of Axel, as a brown, spiky haired boy walked through the door with a bipedal dog and a humanoid duck.

Sora summoned his keyblade and Strelitzia rolled her eyes as she noticed Marluxia leave the room and quickly ran after him, with Namine by her side to keep her out of the way of the fight.

"What the?" Ephemer raised his keyblade in defense as Sora rushed at him, having his friends transform into cards as he did so, and deflected Sora's attack and glared at Axel.

"You have fun with this. I'm going after my friend." Ephemer scowled at Axel, who shrugged but turned to Sora.

"I don't really want to fight, but my pride's on the line here. Can't let you really interfere with our business any longer." Axel's words were heard by Ephemer just as he slammed the door behind himself, proceeding to run down the hallway after Strelitzia and Namine.

As Strelitzia and Namine made their way through the halls, suddenly Namine was forced to stop walking when her arm was grabbed and picked up. Strelitzia looked behind her and saw a blonde man with short hair and a goatee with Namine in his grasp.

"Really, I hate to do this, but I got to keep myself seen as at least some use around here. After all, I am just the bottom of the deck." The man summoned at least ten cards into his hands and scattered them around the hall, but they all homed in towards Strelitzia, who summoned her keyblade and sliced through each card.

"Bottom of the deck? Should be easy then." Strelitzia taunted as she stabbed her keyblade into the ground, causing vines to erupt and lash towards the man, who jumped backwards, dropping his grip on Namine.

"I'm surprised, Strelitzia. You didn't even recognize your brother when he ran off." The man taunted and Strelitzia took a step back in recoil.

"No. Lauriam would never use a human shield or be that cruel." Strelitzia gasped in shock as suddenly Ephemer let out a shout and a twisting spiral of light shot from his keyblade at the cloaked blonde, who just sidestepped out of the way.

"Ephemer as well? Kingdom Hearts really does love to taunt me. Never read about this though." Luxord mumbled under his breath and looked at the two keyblade wielders.

"Can't really let you escape, but also I want to take a gamble in letting you escape. Who knows, maybe we'll meet each other again soon, Eph and Lia." The man smirked as he let a dark portal take him away from the castle. Ephemer tried to recall anyone who once called them those names, but couldn't place it. Strelitzia however could.

"_**Hey there." A boy with black hair with a fedora with a red feather greeted Strelitzia as she lay down on top of a hill at Daybreak Town to relax. Strelitzia looked over and saw the boy was lounging atop a tree.**_

"_**In a tree again Brain?" Strelitzia asked, recalling when she and him first met, he was just lounging in a tree in Wonderland.**_

"_**It's good for peace and people watching. You wouldn't imagine how many people come up this hill to confess their love for each other. Bleh." Brain fake gagged and Strelitzia giggled.**_

"_**Hey, I think it's nice that people love to go here for that." Strelitzia pouted slightly and Brain laughed as he twirled with a feather in his hand.**_

"_**Here Lia." Brain let the feather float into her hands and Strelitzia tilted her head.**_

"_**A feather? Wait, why'd you call me Lia?" Strelitzia asked as Brain got down from the tree.**_

"_**It's easier than saying your name and I know your friend Ephemer already calls you Litz, so I decide on Lia." Brain explained and Strelitzia tilted her head.**_

"_**Wait, I never told you about Ephemer." Strelitzia stated and Brain's eyes widened at his slip up and ran off.**_

"_**Stop spying on people!" Strelitzia ran off after him, laughing happily with the feather in hand.**_

"_Was that Brain? But Brain has black hair and wouldn't be caught dead without his hat." _Strelitzia wondered to herself as she shook her head and looked at Namine.

"We should keep going after that man." Ephemer stated and Strelitzia looked at Namine.

"No. I'll go after him. You keep an eye on this girl. We don't want her back in danger." Strelitzia didn't give Ephemer the chance to respond before running off, causing Ephemer's shoulders to sag.

"Be safe Litz." Ephemer silently said as he looked at Namine.

"Hey there. Why was that man using you as a human shield?" Ephemer asked and Namine shuddered.

"He… Marluxia saw me as a tool. When he thought I didn't have a use, he just decided that I would just be a pawn to dispose of." Namine teared up but Ephemer wiped them away with his scarf.

"Get away from Namine!" Sora yelled at Ephemer as he ran at him, keyblade in hand. Ephemer went to summon his, but Namine stood in Sora's way, forcing Sora to stop.

"Sora! He's not an enemy." Namine defended the white haired boy and Sora gulped.

"Sorry about that. I've been a bit… out of it in this castle." Sora rubbed the back of his neck and Ephemer tilted his head as he looked at him.

"Your voice… why do you sound familiar when I've never met you?" Ephemer asked and Sora tilted his head.

"I dunno. Nice to meet ya. Name's Sora." Sora offered his hand and Ephemer shook it.

"Ephemer. Sora, will you be fine keeping an eye on Namine? My friend went after that Marluxia guy so I need to go help her." Ephemer asked and Sora looked at Namine.

"Sure thing. I've been climbing this castle to get back to her, so I'll keep her safe. That's a promise." Sora smiled and Ephemer nodded before running off.

Meanwhile, Strelitzia burst into a room and saw Marluxia standing there, scythe in one hand, flower in the other.

"Why must this castle mock me so?! To send an illusion of my sister after me!" Marluxia yelled in rage, letting rose petals erupt from around him. Succumbing to his own rage, Marluxia threw his scythe at Strelitzia, who barely ducked under it, just for Marluxia to get right up to her and throw her at the spinning scythe. Strelitzia quickly raised her keyblade to cast Aeroga as a shield, causing her to bounce off the scythe harmlessly.

"Millenia I've been taunted over how I couldn't save her. Of course the final taunt is her trying to kill me." Marluxia cackled crazily as he disappeared into the air, allowing dark pillars of roses and darkness to shoot out of the ground. Strelitzia ran away from the pillars until they trapped her into a corner, then the attack ended and Marluxia stormed up to her and grabbed her by the neck.

"Die fake!" Marluxia went to bring down his scythe when suddenly he was hit in the back by an attack, being forced to drop Strelitzia.

"Lauriam stop! If she was an illusion, then how could you have just held her?" Ephemer yelled and Marluxia's eyes widened as he looked at his sister, backed into a corner, afraid of him.

"You… this is some sort of twisted joke right? Right?!" Marluxia yelled out, dropping to his knees, clutching his chest in pain.

"Lauriam." Ephemer whispered, sad to see what Lauriam had become.

"Lauriam, I'm here. We're still together, like we promised." Strelitzia walked up to Marluxia and pulled him into a hug, shocking him as he remembered back to Daybreak Town. How the two of them only joined a union that would take them both. Always stick together. That's what Lauriam promised his sister.

"Sis…" Marluxia sighed out, letting tears freely fall from his eyes.

"Wow. Bravo on the reunion. I'm so happy for you. Tch, as if." Xigbar walked through a dark portal and aimed his two guns at Marluxia and shot, only to be deflected by Marluxia holding up his scythe to hit the bullets away.

"Xigbar… so Xemnas sent you to kill me when Axel couldn't. You three have already arranged the deaths of Vexen, Larxene, Lexaeus, and probably soon to be Zexion. Hard to be Organization XIII when you keep killing us off." Marluxia taunted as he threw the scythe at Xigbar with one hand as with the other he summoned his old keyblade, a Starlight keyblade that had never evolved and stayed the same.

"So your heart has returned. Makes this a bit more interesting." Xigbar smirked as he teleported above the three and started shooting wildly at them with white colored bullets as power emanated from Xigbar. Marluxia held his hand out for his scythe, but a barrage of five bullets pierced through his hand, cutting his hand off.

"Ouch. Sucks having a heart back. Means you actually get injured by my attacks. Welp, time to die traitor." Xigbar laughed as he kept shooting at Marluxia, but this time, Ephemer summoned his keyblade and spun it in front of him to deflect to bullets.

"Tch." Xigbar grit his teeth and put his two guns together and made a bow with a large bullet acting as the arrow.

"Let it rain!" Xigbar jumped in the air shooting the bow up, causing a barrage of bullets to surround Xigbar before going outwards. Strelitzia stabbed her keyblade into the ground and two vines shot up over Marluxia, Ephemer and Strelitzia to block the bullets.

"Reload." Xigbar told himself, but Ephemer realized what he was doing and jumped up at Xigbar, slashing in front of him, hitting Xigbar before using the keyblade like a bat, sending Xigbar into the wall.

"Tch. One shot." Xigbar muttered as a striking red and black bullet glowed on the end of Xigbar's gun. Xigbar aimed it at Marluxia, who looked ready to dodge, but then Xigbar smirked and aimed it at Strelitzia and shot, forcing Marluxia to jump in front of his sister to block the attack. The bullet pierced right through Marluxia's scythe and through his right shoulder.

"As if that would finish him off. Too bad he's still needed." Xigbar told himself before disappearing into a dark portal, right as Ephemer tried to throw his keyblade at him in a Strike Raid attack, but the attack missed, causing his keyblade to clash against the wall.

"Lauriam! Are you okay?" Strelitzia asked as Marluxia held his shoulder with uninjured arm tightly.

"Just… dandy." Marluxia answered sarcastically as Strelitzia tapped her keyblade on his shoulder.

"Heal." Strelitzia said plainly and the hole in Marluxia's shoulder slightly patched up, but it still look like… well a hole through a shoulder.

"I…" Marluxia looked like he wanted to speak, but instead grabbed Strelitzia into a tight hug,

"I'm sorry. I failed you." Marluxia apologized with tears streaming from his eyes and Strelitzia shook her head.

"No you didn't, moron." Strelitzia started crying as well as Ephemer watched the tearful reunion with a nagging thought at the back of his mind.

"_Where are Brain and Ventus?" _Ephemer wondered to himself, unable to figure out where their other friends were, unknowing Ventus was in the castle as well on a different floor and unknowing Brain's whereabouts entirely.

**AN: Marluxia, Strelitzia and Ephemer reunite as Ventus gets annoyed by the darkness in his heart and meets Riku. I hope you enjoyed. Anyways, I just want to bring up KHUX. Right now, I'm very antsy for a story update as we almost are at Re:Mind. It's coming soon as story updates have been once a month the last couple of months. All I know is I just want more of the story to find out who the traitor is (My bet is on Skuld, her name is one of the fates who is in charge of the future, as well as I just feel Ventus is a false flag at this point) and what is in the box. But whatever. We'll find out soon enough. Have a good day.**


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